Colourful Nostalgia

For most people, their childhood is a cherished time in their life. However, what is remembered the most from one’s youth is not the exact dates and details, but the feelings and fantasies that were once held dearly. In this artwork, I wanted to represent how childhood memories are embellished with the fantasies of the future, as well as how they can be falsified. There is an element of uncertainty as most people may have formed false memories when trying to recall certain events in the past. Thus, instead of rendering the subject matter in sharp details and quality, I reimagined them in a contemporary yet almost fantastical look with the neon colours, reflecting what the youth of today experience in their world of social media and online gaming. Through painting over the photographs, I obscure and reinterpret realities, blurring the lines between what is real and imagined. I explore the sense of struggle in growing up from a simpler, more innocent time, to the present moment of dealing with the distractions of teenage life.